Many travellers have a conception that it is quite hard to survive as a vegetarian in South American region. I agree, but not to the extent that it is near to impossible. South Americans love meat and meat products, is a matter of fact, however, the belief that their meal is completely devoid of vegetarian/vegan menu is an easily falsifiable argument. I have been thrice to South America namely to Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. Among the three trips, I have travelled twice to Brazil for academic purposes. I have to confess that initially I had the same conception.

In fact, when I first travelled to Peru and Ecuador in 2015, I had pre-decided to survive on bread, banana, egg, curd/yogurt, hence, without a hot cooked meal. Prior to that, in Indonesia when I saw bread flossed with meat had already alerted me that even a bread could have, what I was looking to avoid.

Back to South America…….Indeed, a significant portion of meal comprised the items mentioned above. However, I was waiting for the surprises and healthy options that were yearning to get on my palate. My initial days at Lima and Quito were limited to fruits and yogurt, until I accidentally found a restaurant marked as Vegetarian Category 2 in Quito. I did not think over the classification of it being Vegetarian or Vegan. I did inspect the place from outside, what it is offering, and the lady at the entrance in a welcoming posture, as she already knew what I would be looking. I had a plenty of food in 1.5-2 USD as far as I remember. This very instance changed my perception over the availability of options.

At this point, one would simply suggest me to just look for Vegetarian options online or to be specific on Happy Cow. I did that when I returned to Lima and Cusco after my visit to Quito and Guayaquil. Until then my stays at Ecuador were all limited to pre-packed options. However, since then wherever, I have been to in South America, there were plenty of options. Remember, If you start looking for options late at night, many of those outlets would be closed. I had that experience in Rio de Janerio, wherein I arrived at Pizza store, having found an option of my choice. I was the only person gracing the closing ceremony of the restaurant at that point of time, when cleaning was in progress, while I was having my dinner. One can draw a conclusion which also worked for me: Go to a Pizza store you would certainly find an option.

From my experience timings of the vegetarian restaurants are a big concern in many of the cities. In Brazil, none of those restaurants open early in the morning and certainly close by three in the afternoon. This wasn’t an issue when I was in US, where I sometimes used to have my breakfast at Panera bread while leaving for my research work. The best thing in any case would be to book a hostel with complimentary breakfast.

In Brazil, it is typical to find a por-kilo restaurant at areas around workplaces. This worked wonders, as it was always easy to find restaurants of different price ranges. Many of the restaurants display the price per kg right outside the gate. So you make an assessment how much you are willing to pay. More expensive restaurants have more options which may also imply more varieties of fruits and salads. Prices vary a lot; upscale areas may have 25 BRL (Brazilian Real) as a normal rate, but I also found a restaurant with 10-15 BRL Unlimited meal. When in an interior areas of the city, ideally do not link those cheaper prices akin to scam, something sometimes restaurants near the beach areas are badly know for. Of late, prices might have fluctuated over the years, most certainly after pandemic.